Sergey Smolin reports

Russian wine writer Sergey Smolin (see photo below) is working on the most comprehensive book ever written on Hungarian wineries. Apart from writing, he acts as an ambassador of our wines with deeds as well – he conducts tastings for professionals frequently. The last one was held for 12 participants, some of them were members of the wine trade while others were winelovers. The location was Bigati Bar, a popular meeting place of Moscow winelovers. The bar is open for Hungarian wines, they have Heimann & Sons wines on the wine list and recently Heimann Kadarka was available by the glass. The wines of this latest tasting are not available yet, they were all provided by Sergey himself (he bought some of them at his latest visit in Hungary, at Franc & Franc Forum in Villány.

The following short notes come from Sergey.

• Everyone loved the wines, especially both Merlot wines: Jammertal Cassiopeia 2015 and Bock Magnifico 2011.
• Malatinszky Cabernoir 2006 is a rarity even in Hungary, as Csaba Malatinszky does not make this wine any more. It was totally different from all other wines, and from the wines Csaba makes now as well.
• Gere Tamás & Zsolt Aureus 2012 had very firm tannins, it seemed that the wine had just reached its optimum maturity.
• Teleki Villanyi Franc Kopár 2015 needs more bottle ageing, but the wine opened very nicely after 1 hour in decanter.
• Dúzsi Görögszó 2012 had a very pronounced aroma of tomato juice and tomato leaves at the beginning, but then it opened with berry jam, sweet tobacco and spices.
• Vylyan Duennium 2012 was perfectly balanced. and delicate (especially for a “hot climate” wine with 14,38% alcohol). Villány builds the image of the region on Cabernet Franc and this is great, but I find it really awesome that many top wineries do not forget about premium blended wines.
• St Andrea was there just for comparison as a relatively cool climate wine, and it was much cheaper than all other wines, but it was great as well.

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